Improvement in gold-washers



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

JOHN S. OALVERT, OF DENVER, COLORADO TERRITORY.

IMPROVEMENT IN GOLD-WASHERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,597, dated December 28, 1875; application led July 9, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN S. CALVERT, of Denver, in the countyT of Arapahoe and Territory of Colorado, have invented' a new and Improved Gold-Washer; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact de-A scription of the same:

My invention relates to that class of devices made use of for washing gold commonly known as the sluiceg77 and the nature thereof consists in certain improvements in the details of the construction of the same,

and novel combinations of parts hereinafter shown and described.

In the accompanying plate of drawings, in

which corresponding parts are designa-ted by mining is a long wooden trough, having a con-- siderable inclination, into which pay dirt is shoveled, and through which a rapid stream of Water is continually flowing. The bottom of this trough is provided with a series of rifies, generally containing mercury, by which the gold is retained, while the clay, sand, and gravel are carried oft' by the force of the current. The ordinary sluice is composed of a series of rough Wooden boxes, the ends of which are fitted into each other.

In the drawings, A represents a sluice-box having my improvements applied thereto. C designates another sluice-box, through which the Water and gravel pass before reaching said box A. B is the quicksilver-box, having vertical sides b, and an end piece, o, upon which rests the inclined grate D. Attached to each side of the box A are flanges or projections a, having inclined and curvilinear sides a, which deflect the water and dirt, held in suspension, downward through the grate.

The advantages ofthe improvement will be obvious to those skilled -in the art to which the invention relates without further description.

Having thus described my invention, I'claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesp Thecom bination of the sluice-boxes A and C; the quicksilver-box B, having vertical sides b and an end piece, o the inclined gra te Dresting upon the end piece o, and the flanges or projections a attached to the sides of the box A, and arranged above the quicksilver-box, as and for the purpose described.

JOHN S. UALVERT. Witnesses:

JAY A. MERRILL, i W. A. LEWIS. 

